My blog has been a part of me and Bliss Studio since April 2, 2006. Its hard to believe it has been so long that I have been blogging! I look at it as a new way to journal. As a kid I always had diary's and notebooks that I was writing in. As an adult I still have that but they are now scrapbooks that have photos of my life with a little writing in them. The online "blog" version I love so much as I can share a part of my life with all of my readers. Not only do I enjoy seeing where I have been and what I have done over the years I love being able to share. I know I have clients, friends, family and fellow photographers who have become blog stalkers over the years and I thank everyone for it! I hope you guys continue to check up on me and continue to enjoy learning a little about me and what I do.
Just a little about me....I am Whitney Stevens and I hail from the city of Portland, Oregon with my wonderful husband, Dan Harlacher, and my little kitty Daisy. Dan and I have been married four years now and loving every minute of it (yes we are one of those couples!). I am a crazy busy girl who always has a thousand and one things going on (which is why my family is always checking my blog when they have not heard from me in a while....Ha). I love sports almost as much as I love photography and am on a volleyball team, softball team and I bowl. And no that is not on a WII as I have been teased. I am actually not very good at WII sports...go figure. I have been photographing for about 11 years now and couldn't imagine not having a camera. I still remember being a kid and owning a little camera and not knowing what I was doing with it...but it was a blast. My grandmother bought me my first official camera when I was in High School (it was a pentax k1000...remember those?) and I have been shooting ever since. The digital world has of course opened so many more doors and turned photographers into designers as well. This works for me as designing and being able to be even more creative is the best!
Now on to the good stuff......Enjoy!
Hugs...
Whitney
Emmy was such a pleasure to photograph! We had a great time running around downtown Reno for her session. I wanted to give a special thanks to Kim and her girls for being “wardrobe” and helping us. It was quite an “adventure”. Emmy…Enjoy your photos! You are a true beauty and I LOVE what we captured!
Here are a couple of my favorite images from this session…
Tessa is a Bliss Senior Model for this upcoming year. Take a minute to view this slideshow from her session in Tahoe!
Here are a couple of my favorite images from Tessa’s Session…
This last weekend I traveled to Reno for a few sessions. One in particular was the birth of Cavin. I knew I was past his mom, Ciara’s due date and the doctor promised he would not let her go past my date of departure. However the 5am monday morning appointment she had made would still have caused me to stay one day longer in Reno. Now that WOULD have been fine…but I’m not going to lie…I had not seen my husband in over a week and was REALLY looking forward to coming home. I am pretty sure Mr. Cavin must have know this…..because Ciara headed to the hospital Sunday night at 10pm! I jumped for joy! Do you know how exciting it is to be on the “Call List”. I felt LOVED! I realize I am Just the photographer….but I felt as Giddy as anyone that Cavin was on his way! Cavin was born a little after 5am and I got the text. Now Ciara knows better than to text me before 10am….BUT I requested ANYTIME! I wanted to know how long I could sleep in 
So I crawled out of bed at 8am….and headed to the hospital figuring 4 hours old was perfect for Cavin’s first experience of ME!
WHAT A DOLL! Cavin was PERFECT! And the LOVE radiating from Mom and Dad made me all warm and fuzzy. I was so honored to be there to share in their love and joy. It is moments like these that make me realize how much my job means to me. I put a sneak peek up on facebook yesterday and Ciara texted me that she was S O B B I N G! Isnt that the BEST compliment? Maybe not if you were in a different profession like serving food. If someone is sobbing that might be bad news for you. But to me that is a HUGE compliment. It means I did what it was I needed to.
I know this is a long post but I had lots to say! So if you read all of this…thank you! I would like to end by saying THANK YOU to Josh and Ciara for making the most precious little man! And for letting me share the moment with you at the hospital! You guys are wonderful and I can not wait to share/watch as your little man grows! Hugs to all 3 of you! See you again…SOON!
Here is a couple of my favorite images…Followed by a slideshow of all of the images with Video Clips Enjoy!
I am so excited to post this awesome slideshow of my model, Katie that I photographed this weekend at a boudoir workshop I taught for Professional Photographers of Oregon. The workshop was a blast and I LOVE the images we were able to capture. Dan also hooked me up with a few video clips that adds a great look to the show. ENJOY!
What a doll! I have had the opportunity to photograph Big Sister, Sophia over her first year and I was so excited to start Blair on the Bliss Baby Plan. Little Blair was just as beautiful as Sophia and awesome to photograph. Here are a couple of my favorites of Blair as well as a family shot that makes me laugh. I asked Sophia to Smile and she gave me an AWESOME smile! Thanks to the Goodrick family for coming to see me!
If you can watch this till the end you will get to enjoy 3 silly video clips in the slideshow! Its one of my FAVORITE Maternity sessions I have shot so far! So enjoy!
Another beautiful family session in Reno! Its been a few years since I photographed the Quinn’s and I was looking forward to seeing how they have grown up! All three kids were very photogenic and made my afternoon complete! The oldest, Emmy has also teamed up with Bliss to be a model for class of 2011! Very excited to have her on board! Thanks to the Quinn’s for an awesome shoot! Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
It was thunder and lightning and pouring down rain as I sat in the studio waiting for my appointment with Blake. All the while thinking it was a good thing he wanted studio photos! It is May…just about June right? This weather is CRAZY! Anyway..back to Blake…I usually prefer shooting my seniors outdoors but we added a new “Fashion Session” this last year for our seniors. A lot of times seniors will do a double session with a Fashion Session and an Urban Session (upcoming seniors keep that in mind!). We have some awesome new lighting and backgrounds in the studio just for these sessions! I wanted a more Fashion Session with Blake and I know boys are not always too excited about getting their photos taken…but Blake did great! I had a great time working with him on some Fashion images Thanks Blake for coming to see me! Enjoy your sneak peek and I will see you soon!
If you are a blog follower you may recognize these beautiful girls. I have been photographing them since the youngest, Whitney was a baby. I always called her Baby Whitney and have to stop myself now as she is hardly a baby. Even Dan saw a few images from this session and said, “WOW…they have really grown up. I feel old!” Its such a good feeling to have a family that I can grow with and photograph them throughout their lives. It reminds me why it is that I Love photographing. This session of the girls was one of my favorites. The tutus were the perfect touch. Thanks to the Welker Girls and their mom, Kim…for always calling on me to photograph! You guys are the best!
BEAUTIFUL. This family was such an awesome family to photograph! They stepped out of their cars and all I could say was WOW. What a beautiful family…I cant wait to take photos! We went to UNR for the session and in between snow we were able to finish the session. Amazing weather! Really. The whole week before I was to head to Reno my mom kept forwarding me the weather report which seemed to get worse and worse as the week went on. I even thought…I might need to postpone my trip. But as those of us in Oregon know…the weather changes at a drop of a hat. Reno has similar weather patterns so I took the chance. I am so thankful the weather cooperated and I was able to complete all my sessions for the weekend! YEAH! I want to Thank the Forshey family for both braving the cold and for giving me the opprotunity to take photos of you guys! You were all AWESOME!
Enjoy…
